Keep Knocking
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. Luke 18:1
“I’m tired of praying about it.” My frustration spilled out in those six words. Yes, the statement wobbled on the border between whining and honesty, but I sat among friends in the women’s small-group Bible study. No one would judge me there. In fact, several of them nodded. One said, “I know what you mean. I get tired of bringing up the same issues again and again when I pray. I feel like God’s probably sick of hearing about them too.”
How about you? Do you sigh when you realize how long some requests have been on your prayer list? A friend’s battle with cancer, a family member’s struggle with substance abuse, a stream of financial setbacks—is God tired of listening to our pleas?
Jesus told a parable about a persistent widow who kept asking a judge to hear her case (Luke 18:1-8). “For some time he 
refused,” Jesus said (v. 4). Finally, the judge responded, but only to get rid of her: “Otherwise, by continually coming she [will be an intolerable annoyance and she] will wear me out” (v. 5 AMP).
Is that how God feels about us?
Jesus said, absolutely not. Our heavenly Father is nothing like the judge in the parable. God never grows weary of listening to His children. In fact, Jesus told us to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking (Matthew 7:7 AMP).
God isn’t deaf, either. He hears us the first time we ask (1 John 5:14). As Romans 8:28 reminds us, He is working on our behalf. But sometimes it takes a while. Think of Joseph’s 13 years of slavery and imprisonment in Egypt. What about Abraham and Sarah waiting 25 years for the promised heir? Consider, too, Israel’s centuries-long anticipation of a Messiah.
God has woven millions of threads of human experiences into His eternal plan. Our thread has been woven into that plan as surely as the threads of the lives of biblical characters were.
In the meantime, we, like the persistent widow, keep praying—even when we don’t feel like it—because our loving God knows our hearts and He welcomes our prayers, especially the persistent ones.
DIG DEEPER:
Read Luke 18:1-8. What question does Jesus ask at the end of the parable? Why do you think He asks that question? How would you answer it?
Read Matthew 7:7-11. What promise does Jesus give in these verses? What does He encourage us to remember about our heavenly Father?
In Romans 12:12, what two attributes does Paul associate with faithfulness in prayer? How are those three things connected to one another? How do they evidence the renewed mind he mentions in Romans 12:2?
Denise K. Loock
This devotion is part of a series, The Parables.